The (mostly?) temporary closure of the Mitchell Park Domes due to safety concerns is old news by now. This is a direct result of the deferred maintenance that has plagued the Milwaukee County Parks System for far too many years now — and I argue deferred maintenance is a direct cause of the tragedy at O’Donnell Park in 2010. And the issues at the Domes are not at all new. The problems with deteriorating concrete have been known since 2004, and I voted for action on it back in 2013.

The Mitchell Park Domes

The Mitchell Park Domes, a popular tourist attraction and point of local pride, are the latest attraction to have been closed by deferred maintenance. This, despite the fact that in July 2015, I and my colleagues on the County Board allocated $5 million from an already-realized budget surplus to directly address deferred maintenance in the Parks, County Executive Abele dismissed this in his veto message [PDF] as “flippant and irresponsible decision making” by the Board.

In response to this closure, the County Board is holding a public hearing at the Mitchell Park Domes Greenhouse [map] at 6 PM on Wednesday, February 24th. We want to find out what the people of Milwaukee County want to happen with this cherished institution. According to an email from County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, the hearing agenda lists presentations by the County Executive; the Parks Director; and the Friends of the Domes, and comments by the public.

I’ll do a gentleman’s bet with anyone willing on whether or not the exec will or will not appear, as he repeatedly failed to represent his own department at a series of budget hearings last year.

Update: An e-mail from Abele to Chairman Lipscomb begins, “Thank you for the invitation. I will make sure that someone from my administration will be in attendance to answer the Board’s questions.” That’s a “no.” It is his sixth? seventh? eighth? failure to appear before the public on official business.

One of the most satisfying elements of my job as a county supervisor has been working with my neighbors to create Food Truck Friday at Morgan Park. This wonderful biannual event fills a tiny triangular park with hundreds of people who buy freshly prepared food from over a dozen food trucks along the park perimeter.

Original art by dwelliphant.

Food Truck Friday is the brainchild of two park neighbors, Kirsten and Sheri. They were both integral to starting the group Friends of Morgan Park. Sheri is the proprietor of a store across the street from Morgan Park. She noted that there are few options for food this far south on Kinnickinnic Avenue during the Bay View Neighborhood Association’s biannual Gallery Night events. She and Kirsten put their heads together, and Food Truck Friday began in the late summer of 2014.

We expected maybe a few dozen people to show up to partake from the five food trucks that day, but well over five hundred people came to the park that day!

Morgan Park is a little green triangle of grass and tall trees, less than an acre in size. It’s uncommon for there to be more than two or three people in the park for any length of time. So imagine now five hundred folks clamoring around food trucks, sitting in lawn chairs and enjoying the company of neighbors. Despite its size, the crowd was very good to the park, making sure to find trash cans and clean up after themselves. Once the people and the food trucks had left, you could hardly tell there had been an event there.

The following four Food Truck Fridays have each been bigger and better-attended. We look forward to the next one this June!

Below: The smell of hickory barbecue wafts across Morgan Park during Food Truck Friday on June 6, 2014.

I found this, rediscovered it by a chance web search for “Jasmine Owens murdered milwaukee.” Jasmine Owens was a five-year-old girl who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in 2005. She looked an awful lot like my own five-year-old daughter, which scared the living hell out of me. Hence my post “Detroit, not Rome, is burning.”

I will resume posting on here. I’ve got a thing or two to say since I left off in 2014.

eRecycling Drive Benefiting People with Disabilities

FREE ELECTRONIC COLLECTION DRIVE BEING HELD SATURDAY, AUGUST 23
FROM 10 A.M. TO 2 P.M. AT THE PETTIT NATIONAL ICE CENTER IN MILWAUKEE

IndependenceFirst encourages consumers and businesses to recycle their old electronic devices through the “Stuff the Truck for Independence Drive.”

The drive will be held on Saturday, August 23, 2014 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pettit National Ice Center located at 500 S. 84th Street in Milwaukee (rain or shine). It’s an easy drive-up and drop-off process. No need to leave your vehicle!

Any electronics with a plug or battery will be accepted in working or non-working condition. Bring your computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets, appliances and TVs, computer accessories like mice and keyboards or household appliances, small electronics, fans and more. Because of increased disposal cost, there will be a charge of $10 for TV recycling for TVs of all tube sizes and wooden cabinet TVs. Flat panel TVs (LED, Plasma, LCD ) and Rear projection will be accepted for free as well as any other electronics. CRT computer monitors are also still free. The data destruction process for all donated laptops and computers will follow strict identity theft prevention standards.

Recycling old computer equipment will benefit IndependenceFirst, providing opportunities for people with disabilities to obtain a computer they otherwise could not afford, develop crucial job pre-skills, gain information, seek jobs or housing, and get peer support.